Eloquent-speaking Nigeria sports minister, John Owan-Enoh under whose supervision the Nigeria football knock-out competition changed name for the sixth time.

What began as Governor’s Cup and later changed to Challenge Cup, Coca-Cola FA Cup, Federation Cup, Aiteo Cup and Tingo Cup is now President Federation Cup.

The minister explained that the essence is to return charm to the competition that was previously very glamorous.

At a simple, but colourful event packaged by the GTI Asset Management and Trust Ltd, the NFF and the Ministry of Sports at the Westwood Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos, the sports minister harped on the need to rejuvenate the Nigeria national football cup competition which is open to all clubs irrespective of their status.

He recalled the thrills and frills of the competition which had all the ingredients of knock out games with the attendant upsets. Foremost was when the then Leventis United of Ibadan rose steadily from the third division and became the first lower- division team to win the then Challenge Cup in 1984.

“Today we gather to relaunch the competition as the President Federation Cup, honouring Nigeria’s highest office holder and aligning with the renewed hope agenda of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, fostering national unity and emulating the American Super Bowl as a national football extravaganza.”

The minister stated further that his initiative of the agreement with GTI was to raise the standard of the national football cup competition.

“We aim to reestablish the renamed competition on the national and international football calendar, involving grassroots teams, creating employment for approximately 500,000 Nigerians, engaging a hundred million football enthusiasts, rejuvenating talent pipelines, fostering national pride, and showcasing Nigeria’s greatness globally.

“The President Federation Cup will become President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legacy.”

It took a while before the new name of the all-Nigeria national football competition was arrived at. President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau explained that when the discussion to rebrand the national cup began, it was just to be called President Cup.

That was to give it a presidential backing by the highest office in Nigeria. It would have been similar to “The Throne Cup” in Morocco.

Gusau explained that not putting ‘Federation’ in the official name could lead people to mistaken that the NFF was not involved in the competition.

It was for that reason that the name was elongated to read: President Federation Cup.

From the quarter-finals stage, the clubs will be taken care of and also supplied with jerseys. Although the prize money was not announced, it was stated that ‘it will be good.’

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

For the sixth time, Nigeria’s oldest football competition has had a change of name as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and GTI on Friday announced a new nomenclature for the knock-out competition.

The competition which national draw for the Round of 64 was conducted on Thursday will now be known as President Federation Cup.

It is the seventh  name for the competition which began in 1945 as Governor’s Cup. But following the changes in the Nigerian Constitution, the Annual General Meeting of the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA) on February 28, 1955 opted for another name – the All Nigeria Challenge Cup (simply called the Challenge Cup).

The name endured for decades until it was changed to changed the name to Coca-Cola FA Cup in 1996 for sponsorship reasons.

On June 3, 2008, Ademola Olajire through a press release announced the third change of name to Federation  Cup following the adoption of a new nomenclature by the governing body which is now known as Nigeria Federation Cup.

The name endured till June 28, 2017 when the NFF conferred the naming right to its lead partner, the AITEO Group and competition became the ‘AITEO Cup’.

The agreement was for five years and it lapsed in 2022. In 2023 it was called the Tingo Cup. The President Federation Cup is the seventh name that the competition has adopted.